Do you still believe Microsoft is effectively communicating how the Windows 7 Upgrade process will work?

Outrage spread like wildfire across the Internet this week with criticism of Microsoft's alleged new upgrade process for Windows 7. People were concerned if they wanted to upgrade to Windows 7 they would be required to activate the current version of Windows they were using prior to upgrading. If true, this would be a departure from the Windows Vista upgrading process and add a mammoth hassle-factor to upgrading your PC to Windows 7 or reinstalling the OS.

If you have to go back and reinstall Windows 7 for whatever reason, you'll have to both reinstall the previous operating system and put in a call to Customer Support. That's because the key to said operating system--the one that Windows 7 checks for activation--would no longer be valid. To put it bluntly, the Windows 7 upgrade experience shoots itself in the foot the first time you run it.

The confusing part? Another Microsoft employee is directly contradicting the unnamed spokesperson that Silverman's post references.

Answering questions related to this alleged new Windows 7 upgrade policy, Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist Harold Wong attempted to clarify the situation in a response on his Technet blog yesterday afternoon.

So Who's Right?

Well. This is why I've been calling for actual testing of the Upgrade media, which I hope to have by the end of the month. And for Microsoft, please, to work to clarify this and other related issues that no one--including Microsoft, apparently--really understands.